Global automation solutions provider KEBA has announced a new strategic partnership with European parcel service provider GLS Group, which will see the roll out of “future-proof” parcel lockers across Europe from December 2024.
The two firms will work together to increase the availability of GLS’s pickup and drop-off points for its customers in the coming years. KEBA’s parcel lockers allow for fast and efficient expansion at high-traffic locations and the technology provides GLS Group with the necessary flexibility to meet the growing demands of e-commerce.
The new partnership builds on GLS and KEBA’s existing collaboration, which has seen the locker firm provide GLS with its KePol FS10 machines for use outdoors in select countries including Croatia, Hungary and Romania.
CEP-Research has contacted KEBA to find out how many lockers will be rolled out as part of the new collaboration.
KEBA’s offering
KEBA offers GLS a comprehensive portfolio that includes hardware, software, rollout, and service offerings, providing a scalable, reliable solution that will be ready for deployment starting in December 2024.
The collaboration with KEBA will create a sustainable and forward-thinking infrastructure, enabling the expansion of the GLS network while bringing services even closer to customers, KEBA noted.
“The partnership with KEBA is a testament to our commitment to growth and excellence in the last mile delivery space,” said Johan Holstein, Last Mile Director at GLS.
Cesar Lapuerta, Sales Director at KEBA, added: “We are very excited to extend our collaboration with GLS Group, taking another important step in expanding the network of automated parcel machines (APM). Together, we are bringing the APM infrastructure to a new level with the objective of meeting the continuously growing demands of the market while ensuring a sustainable, future-proof solution.”
GLS’s OOH network
The new partnership with KEBA is part of GLS’s long-term growth plan aimed at further expanding the current 89,000 GLS Points in Europe – a combination of parcel shops and parcel lockers – offering customers even more convenience and flexibility.
News of the KEBA partnership follows an announcement last month that GLS had signed a deal with Bloq.it, a leading provider of smart locker technology, to power the delivery firm’s parcel locker networks across Europe, starting in Italy and Spain with the new NEXT autonomous Locker solution.
Like the Keba partnership, the initial Bloq.it pilot, which will go live in March 2025, is part of a larger scale initiative for GLS to expand its out-of-home delivery network by thousands of lockers in its main European markets in the next few years. This includes the recent partnerships with DPD in Germany, PostNL in the Netherlands and ORLEN in Poland.
For Bloq.it, the GLS deal strengthens its ambitions to become the biggest locker company in Europe as the company launches new solutions for a diverse range of customers, including DHL eCommerce, Locker Italia and Vinted Go.
